What Can Dogs Eat?Feeding dog owners info about what foods are safe for their dogs to eat.

Can Dogs Eat Onions?

Is it safe for your dog to eat Onions? Read more to find out.

Dogs should not eat onions or foods that contain onion.

Onions are very dangerous for dogs to eat because they contain a toxic chemical called thiosulphate (also found in garlic). This includes all forms of onions including raw onions, cooked onions, dehydrated onions, table scraps of cooked onions, leftovers such as pizza or Chinese food, and some flavors of baby food that contains onion.

Poisoning can happen with either a one large ingestion of onion or with repeated ingestions of small amounts of onion.

Onion poisoning leads to haemolytic anemia, which causes red blood cells to burst throughout the body’s circulation. Poisoning typically occurs a few days after eating the onions.

Symptoms initially include vomiting and diarrhea. Dogs may appear weak and have no interest in eating anything. Since red blood cells carry oxygen, the reduction of oxygen in the blood causes breathlessness.

The condition begins to improve once the dog has stopped eating any more onion.

What do other dog owners have to say about whether their dogs can eat Onions or not? See comments below.

Keep onions away from your dogs. My Min Pin got into some chinese food and ended up in the emergency with severe seizures. Two days later she was much better but my pockets were empty from the Vet bill…

This site is very helpful but I couldn’t find the place to contact or add foods. I read on one website that baked potatoes are ok but raw potatoes and potato plants are not!!! Any thoughts? Also, could you cite the source of these things you find? I guess that’s a little hypocritical since I can’t find mine but still… it’d be helpful! 😉

@ Rotem: In response to your question about garlic. Ground dried garlic is found in a lot of commercial foods because most dogs like the flavor and in very small quantities it can be beneficial just as it is for humans. Garlic is a natural antiseptic and used by many pet owners to fight off infections, but you should never add any form of garlic to a dogs food.

and my mother wonders why I give her an earful about feeding the dogs table scraps, especially with onion. However I didnt know the same went with garlic until last year through a college course. before i had known garlic was toxic I would in the winter cook up some pasta and mix half a teaspoon of minced garlic in each food bowl with the pasta and dog food for a warm supper, they never did get sick from it but after reading that it looks like the garlic will most DEF be stopped.

My dog ate half a dozen onion rings by my mistake. I was in a panic about it. She is over 45 lbs, but I was still unsure of what would happen. She was just fine… some smelly farts was all. I was so happy she was ok. I contacted my vet after hours (the vet in our community does not charge extra) and they told me given her size she should be just fine. She was fine. But I do not even think to let her eat onions or garlic if possible.

I gave my dog my ground beef spaguetti sauce dinner made with onions and i mixed it with noodles and rice because i run out of his regural homemade food and the next day he had his stomach upset …. And his stool was kind of jelly clear white…after that just runny stool in his next two bowels.

Thank you for the comments re: dogs eating raw onions.
My dog, Lexie, was experiencing what looked like an asthma attack. She was breathing heavily and heaving from her diaphragm and belly. I had no idea what was wrong and gave her a day to recover. She had her usual walk in the park the next morning, but as soon as we returned home she munched on some grass in the yard and the symptoms started again.

I gave her a small dose of antihistamine and she rested. Today I asked my husband to help with some yard work. And as I knelt to pull some stray grass from my neighbors yard, I realized that green onions were mixed in the grass.

We will be visiting the Vet tomorrow. Please warn the readers about this danger. It may save a pets life.

SO tonight I’m making cabbage rolls & have left over meat/rice mixture. The recipe called for 1/2 cup of onions – it was closer to 1/3 cuz my hubby has issues with them. Over hald the mixture was left – my dogs are large, a Golden Retriever (65 lbs) and a lab (100+ lbs). I was hoping to add the mixture to their meal. Think it’s ok with the minimal amount of onions used?

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Disclaimer: As dog owners ourselves, we do our best to make sure all information researched on what foods can dogs eat is accurate. Please note however that we aren't professional veterinarians. Let us know if anything is incorrect, and be careful feeding your dog unusual foods.